SAP and Microsoft Join Forces to Bring Business Solutions to Pocket PCs

April 19, 2000
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NEW YORK, April 19, 2000 — Today at Pocket PC launch events in New York and London, Microsoft Corp. and SAP AG announced their cooperation to bring mySAP.com TM solutions to the new line of Pocket PC devices. Microsoft, SAP and other industry partners will create end-to-end solutions that link Pocket PCs with mySAP.com. This alliance will enable the companies to quickly bring powerful business solutions to market that link together customer relationship management, e-commerce, supply chain management, business intelligence applications and company-specific processes. These solutions will greatly increase data availability, accuracy and capture, while decreasing operational costs for enterprises worldwide.

“Pocket PCs were designed to extend the reach of end-to-end enterprise solutions beyond the desktop,”
said Steve Ballmer, president and CEO, Microsoft.
“Integrating Pocket PCs with the open, robust mySAP.com infrastructure will address the mobile computing needs of many organizations around the world.”

“SAP is furthering mySAP.com to empower people working on customer relationships with key information they need on mobile devices, including the Pocket PC,”
said Peter Zencke, member of the executive board, SAP AG.
“The mySAP.com Mobile Workplace extends the reach of enterprises to move beyond traditional company walls, thereby providing better service to employees, partners and customers.”

“FinTech has designed end-to-end solutions for customers such as Husky Oil that combine the mySAP.com Mobile Workplace, Pocket PCs and Varadero from Abaco,”
said Mike Finch of FinTech Services Ltd.
“These solutions help enterprises extend their reach and achieve greater visibility into their own business processes.”

SAP has a record of proven development expertise for vertical and horizontal mySAP.com application areas from health care and manufacturing to customer relationship management and the entire enterprise technology environment. As part of the joint development agreement, Microsoft will be responsible for mobile Microsoft® Windows® CE operating system-based client architecture and the mobile server Web components. The resulting business solutions for mobile professionals, such as sales representatives, procurement specialists and health-care workers, will combine mySAP.com with Windows-powered mobile devices and services provided by solution providers.

In addition to vertical and horizontal business solutions, SAP plans to deliver a set of tools for rapid development, the SAP TM Mobile Data Framework (MDF) Workbench. This toolkit will enable solution providers as well as corporate developers to quickly create custom enterprise solutions. The MDF Workbench will utilize Pocket Internet Explorer Web browser software technology such as secure sockets layer (SSL) and XML.

The Mobile Sales (for handheld devices) application provides one example of how the Microsoft-SAP cooperation will benefit customers. The application utilizes the Microsoft Message Queue Server (MSMQ) transaction processing facility for the Pocket PC to ensure that information entered into the device is delivered once and only once, in the right chronological order, to mySAP.com on the corporate IT network infrastructure. This level of reliability and integration with mySAP.com is a major step forward for mobile computing solutions.

About Pocket PCs

Pocket PCs, the next-generation mobile devices from Microsoft and industry partners, offer customers the best way to connect to their most essential information while away from their desk, yet are flexible enough to satisfy the personal demands of those living today’s busy mobile lifestyle. Pocket PCs already include a broad range of business and personal productivity applications, yet can easily be expanded to adapt to each customer’s changing needs through a continually growing number of enterprise solutions and services. Pocket PCs were designed to meet the corporate mobile device requirements of security, connectivity and manageability.

About mySAP.com Mobile Workplace

The mySAP.com Mobile Workplace is a personalized navigation tool for accessing information, services and applications that a user needs while on the go, enabling
“m-commerce”
(mobile commerce), the ability to conduct business any time, anywhere. It is the entry point through which users are able to call up standard mySAP.com functionality in the form of MiniApps for customers who require online or on-demand solutions. By providing a workplace for a broad range of mobile devices, SAP enables its customers to extend their information reach beyond traditional office walls.

About SAP

As the market leader of inter-enterprise software solutions, SAP (NYSE ADR: SAP) is leveraging its strength in industry-focused business software and the world’s largest enterprise software customer base to deliver mySAP.com. mySAP.com provides an open collaborative business environment of personalized solutions on demand. This enables companies of all sizes and industries to fully engage their employees, customers and partners to capitalize upon the new Internet economy.

mySAP.com allows people to harness the power of the Internet to work smarter, better and faster by optimizing supply chains, managing strategic relationships, reducing time to market, sharing virtual information, and increasing productivity and shareholder value.

SAP is listed on several exchanges including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol
“SAP.”
The SAP World Wide Web site can be found at http://www.sap.com/ .

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software – any time, any place and on any device.

SAP and mySAP.com are either trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and several other countries.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

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